While it would be unfair to ask (all hail) Bob for his opinion of these instruments, I'd like to say that even though I've never seen one, if Bob sells them, they must be at least decent quality. One of my students is going to be purchasing a bass in the next 6 months, and will be making a road trip up to the NY/Jersey area to do some comparisons. Bob's place will definitely be one of his stops.

does anybody know anything about Bob Gullihur's carved basses from Bulgaria? Thanks fopr any comments on them at all.

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I bought one of those basses two months ago (thanks, Bob). Everything went very smoothly. There's a waiting list; I had to wait for about five months. Since I live in France, Bob arranged for the shop to send me the bass directly. It arrived in a huge crate, in perfect condition.

I immediately fell in love with its sound. Plenty of volume, no dead spots, nice mwaah on the E string. Really sounds like a carved bass. What's more, the sound is improving daily.

There are also some slight drawbacks that I'll mention for the sake of honesty. First, it's not a "pretty" bass. People usually think that it's a plywood, and look down at it accordingly. Of course, when they hear the sound, they usually shut up fast . Another problem is that the bridge that came with the bass is quite crappy and started to warp as soon as I put the strings on. But bridges are cheap, so I just got a new one. And for less than $2000, you really can't complain.

That's about all I can think of at this moment... I'm very happy with my new bass.

Bob:
- I see that they will make a 5 string version, and also left hand models. Do they, or will they in the future, offer more options, like different sizes, different string lengths, violin corners, flamed wood, different finish...?

- As I understand it, they do not come with a bag?

Timo, when you say it's "not a pretty bass", is this because of the finish, the general appearance of the wood, or...?

Bob:
- I see that they will make a 5 string version, and also left hand models. Do they, or will they in the future, offer more options, like different sizes, different string lengths, violin corners, flamed wood, different finish...?

- As I understand it, they do not come with a bag?

Timo, when you say it's "not a pretty bass", is this because of the finish, the general appearance of the wood, or...?

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1/2 and 4/4 are available, stock string lengths, no violin corners, and gloss, matte, or in the white finishes only. Woods are selected for musicality, not flame, which is one of the reasons why they are less expensive than similar carved basses. Spruce (the conventional top wood on most basses) is pretty plain in any case. We have a few nicer looking backs at the factory that may be offered at a small premium, but they aren't that big of a deal. Pricing is a la carte, bags and other accessories available separately.

To expand on what Timo said, they don't use the sexy flamey woods, as some people seem to expect. It's not ugly, just plain. I personally have never seen anyone play with their back to the audience so they can see the pretty back of their bass

I can dig having premium woods on the front of a bass guitar, but the desire for flashy backs on URBs escapes me. But then both of my own personal basses are 20 ft basses... they look good if you are 20 ft away.

OK... "Stock string lengths"...does this mean that the 4/4 also has 41.5" string length?

Flamed wood is not a big deal to me... can be nice to have on the sides though. I do like violin corners... but it's not a must. Matte finish is good - will it be the same kind of colour as the glossy ones?

As far as I can see the fingerboard is round, not bevelled?

Finally: Do you have a rough estimate of what the shipping cost would be from Bulgaria to ... lets say for instance Norway ?

erik II: Timo, when you say it's "not a pretty bass", is this because of the finish, the general appearance of the wood, or...?

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Well, it's a plain bass, visually. It's not ugly, mind you, but there are some bass players in my area who own prettier basses with flamed maple backs and darker stains, so the other musicians kind of expect that and comment on it.

Personally, I don't mind, and to the general public, it makes no difference. After yesterday's gig, some chick told me that she had never seen such a huge guitar before. Such comments (which I get quite often) tend to calm me down when I get GAS .

I've some real ugly carved basses and also kind of expensive, I don't like most of the basses that have a sunburst finish, by looking at the pics on Bob's site I actually thought that the bass was atractive, nice model nice dimensions, I like the way it looks.

I agree, Bijoux, nothing wrong with a bass just looking straight ahead ordinary. It has nice shape and proportions.

Bob, thanks for the replies... But I am curious about the 4/4 dimensions too. I'm thinking about replacing my 3/4 because I find it a tad too small...

Thanks for info Timo. One more thing: I know this may vary from bass to bass, but...would you say the sound of your bass has any particular characteristics... light, dark...? Is it nice and even all over? What kind of strings do you use on it?

One more thing: I know this may vary from bass to bass, but...would you say the sound of your bass has any particular characteristics... light, dark...? Is it nice and even all over? What kind of strings do you use on it?

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Erik, the sound of the bass is very nice, at least to my ears. It's on the bright side, but the lows are there, too. I use regular Spirocores (red/red). This accentuates the brightness even more, but I like the growly spiro sound, and the projection which enables me to play unamplified at rehearsals and most small gigs. BTW, (all hail) Bob has a recording of himself playing one of those basses which conveys adequately its sound.

The notes are more or less even, all over the fingerboard. My bass has a very slight wolf tone at the first C on the G string, but it's not really disturbing. There are no dead spots. Ah, and those low, growly "mwaaah" notes on the E and A strings are to die for.

As you have guessed by now, I love my bass, so I might not be very objective about it (her?). If you had vacation plans for southern France, you could have tried it or at least hear me play it since I'm a southpaw.